The Miami Heat could have a say in each and every regular season award

MIP-Bam Adebayo

While Basketball-Reference sees him as an early MVP candidate, those are lofty expectations for the third-year big man, perhaps? What isn’t a lofty nor unrealistic expectation is that Adebayo should be in the running for Most Improved Player once the season’s done and over with. We aren’t the only ones who believe this to be true either.

While it has never been about a lack of ability with Bam, it has been more a lack of opportunity because of who was slotted into the rotation ahead of him. To make that case, if you take a look at his numbers, you’ll notice that during his first season he was making just about half of his attempts. In his second season, he elevated those numbers from around 50 percent to just over 55 percent.

He made 2.5 of 4.9 attempts during his rookie season and 3.4 of 5.9 attempts during last season. If you look at those same numbers this season, he is making closer to 60 percent of his field goals, while also being more efficient about it. He is taking more shots and making more of those attempts.

Along with the uptick in shots, he has also steadily increased every other statistic from year to year with this year’s uptick being the greatest so far, thus in accordance with the uptick in minutes and/or opportunity. That is one of the key reasons why Bam should definitely be in the running for MIP, aside from the fact that some have gone beyond that and begun to view him as a potential MVP candidate.

DPOY-Justise Winslow

While Justise Winslow has been out of the lineup recently with concussion-related issues, he is still the fiery defender that we love to see compete when he’s on the floor. When thinking about the furthered potential of a lineup featuring Winslow, Butler, and Bam, the possibilities are endless on that end of the floor.

Outside of what you can see with your eyes though, if you take a peep at this season’s defensive metrics and analytics, Justise Winslow pops off the page at you there too. He is ranked second in the entire league currently when it comes to Defensive Win Shares.

According to Basketball-Reference once again, “Win Shares is a player statistic which attempts to divvy up credit for team success to the individuals on the team”. With that knowledge, it’s safe to say that Justise’s defense is the second-highest ranked in the league when it comes to how much a player’s defense effects winning a particular game. That is the key reason why he should be in the running for Defensive Player of the Year.